West Seattle, Washington
08 Sunday
Thanks to Dave Gould for the photo above showing tonight’s spectacular sunset. ADDED 11:35 PM: Thanks also to David Hutchinson, who sent the panorama below:
From WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham: Tuesday morning, “Dan” walks and feeds the pigeons on Alki Beach. Dan can often be seen walking Alki Beach with two or three pigeons perched on his shoulders or tucked under his arms.
(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
That photo is from Eric Bell of fridgefoto.biz, who explains it so well we wouldn’t dare change a word:
The seasonal spirit of giving is alive and well in the Admiral District, not to mention that great American tradition of dumping your cr*p on a sidewalk and hoping someone will take it away. I spotted this bargain – in festive green – adjacent to the Crosswalk of Death (the intersection of Admiral and SW Waite St., near Alki Mail & Dispatch). Dog not included.
First photo from Lowman Beach late this afternoon; second from Beach Drive at sunset.
Driving east on Harbor Ave at sunrise this morning, we spotted this formation in the southeast sky. Could have been anything — deteriorating jet trail? Mount Adams steam? — whatever it was, it caught our eye, and luckily the camera was along for the ride.
WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham took these photos at an every-other-month West Seattle event that your editors admit to having never heard of before … antique-tool enthusiasts gathering at the Alki Masonic Hall on the east edge of The Junction. Matt writes:
Today members shared information and auctioned tools designed for ship-building, scrimshaw and various other uses. The Pacific Northwest Tool Collectors invite all tool collectors and dealers to join them at their meetings. To attend, you must be a member of PNTC, a guest of a member, or register at the meeting. Contact info is at tooltimer.com.
(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Seen on the Alki promenade/boardwalk/whatever’s your preferred term:
By the way, tomorrow’s forecast is looking better, according to the fourth paragraph here.
The latest touch on the much-watched sign for Shadowland in The Junction is neon — as photographed today by WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli. He went by shortly after we sent a note to Shadowland co-proprietor Joe to ask a question we’ve heard from a couple people — what’s going in the circular space in the middle of the sign? Joe says, “A moon. The face is being painted now. Still a mystery on how we will get it up there but we have a team of engineers working on it :) …” Joe says they’re expecting to open the week of the 25th, depending on how city inspections go next week. No detailed menu scoop yet but we’ve had hints here and here. (Joe added in a later note that it’s exciting to finally get so close to opening after all this time – and the birth of a business can take a long time indeed — we looked back into the WSB archives and found our first mention of this project was more than a year and a half ago.)
Crews are out fixing the pole in front of the ex-FSA HQ – the car that hit it (see post below) is gone.
Thanks to several people who e-mailed WSB to let us know about a car hitting a pole on Delridge — right by the famous flag — here’s the first photo, from Pete:
ADDED 10:15 AM: Another angle, from David:
Earlier “eyewitness account” removed – Steph notes, different accident. Sorry.
First, some good news: the Fauntleroy Community Association website has this Fauntleroy Creek update reporting five spawners were spotted heading upstream earlier this week. Meantime, WSB reader Luckie suggests goodnaturedly that there’s probably a “raccoon feast tonight” along Longfellow Creek because of the scene below that she and her family photographed this afternoon “downstream from the fishbone bridge near SW Yancy.”
After going offline for a short while – we opened the inbox and some wonderful folks from WSB-land have sent photos of the amazing sights from early this morning; thank you all SO much! We start with this sunrise sky shot from WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli:
Two more from Christopher – first, a boater getting ready to leave Seacrest during the spectacular sunrise; the second one, of course, needs no caption:
ADDED 9:25 AM: From Joe Murray, the sunrise with Rainier in the distance:
ADDED 9:45 AM: One final photo – this one from Patricia, near Alki Point:
We appreciate all photos of interesting sights/happenings/people around West Seattle – send them to us any time at westseattleblog@yahoo.com!
From West Seattle Blog contributing photographer Matt Durham, two photographs of events around WS today — first, from the Gee West Seattle (ex-Huling) auction preview (more info on the auction, which starts tomorrow and Thursday @ 10 am, in this earlier post):
Second photo is a familiar scene to West Seattle families with kids in elementary school — and for everyone else, it explains why you are seeing kids out and about earlier than usual this week — it’s “early release” time, to clear afternoon/evening blocks for parent-teacher conferences. Here, Matt photographed Kent Ferris, 4th-grade teacher from Lafayette Elementary in the Admiral District, meeting with parents:
Parent-teacher conferences (and early dismissals) continue citywide through November 20; here’s the district calendar. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Veteran West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham, from MattDurhamPhotography.com, has agreed to contribute photos and reporting to WSB from time to time, and we couldn’t be more pleased – his excellent work fits so well with our mission of bringing you West Seattle news, information, and discussion 24/7/365. Here are three of Matt’s photos from today, with his captions below each:
Japhy Witte (with Sign Savant, a West Seattle business) puts the finishing touches on the marquee that will welcome patrons to the new tapas restaurant Shadowland, slated to open around the week of Thanksgiving. Shadowland will offer tapas, small plates, and entrees in a variety of cuisine types, according to owner Ben Jenkins.
With a steady gaze, a loyal lab waits for its owner to exit Capers Sunday afternoon.
The cold, blustery Sunday weather did not deter shoppers from purchasing their fresh produce and organic groceries from West Seattle’ Farmers’ Market.
We look forward to more from Matt in the future. (Prints of these photos and his other work, by the way, are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Just out of the inbox, from Teresa P:
Just wanted to everyone know, the West Seattle coyotes are back!
I live at the end of 44th Ave SW @ Portland and had two young adults on my property Saturday morning. They awoke me by their “talking” to each other which at times can sound very disturbing, almost scary at times. However, it is simply the way they communicate with each other. But in the middle of the night it can sound horrendous!!
Coyotes will usually return to their mating den every winter, however they did not come back last winter. I can’t say I was sad because by that spring, not only did we have two adults, we had three pups playing at the lower portion of my property. As amazing as they are to watch, it is important to remember they are wild and are not to be treated lightly. I have not had any issue with them getting into garbage or coming up to the house, however, my cat is no longer allowed any outside time after sunset or early in the morning. During the day, only when supervised.
There is sometimes a misconception that coyotes will not approach domestic animals or even humans but that is simply not true. If they are hungry and see something they think they can catch or take from your yard, they will.
So be safe!
Here’s a map of the intersection Teresa mentions. Meantime — we have written about West Seattle coyote sightings like these before, and our caveat is, don’t panic – we need to co-exist with these guys (as this excellent Humane Society page notes) – but do be forewarned, as Teresa writes, you need to keep your pets indoors. A good idea in any case, given there are even more serious threats (cars, for example).
If you are going to The Junction for the Farmers’ Market (or anything else) today and have time to stroll a block east — check out how massive the excavation for the Capelouto megaproject (announced as Office Depot/QFC/apartments) has become (above photo was taken looking through the fence from the west side, along 42nd). Downtown, big digs like this are old hat, but in West Seattle, not so much.
Too warm for any other kind of snowflakes, but these pole-borne holiday decorations are up along California Ave between Edmunds and Genesee.
Six months ago, various reports of a motorcade along The Bridge and Alki yielded Seattle Police explanation that it was a training exercise. We’ve just received a couple notes about a similar sighting this morning; we just called the Southwest Precinct to ask whether it’s a dignitary (none in town that we know of) or training, but all the folks there could tell us was that they don’t know of anything special going on.
It’s that transition time of year for Tony’s at 35th/Barton — the produce stand is closed and the changeover to trees is looming, marked this year by a distinctive color scheme (since we took the pic yesterday, crews have finished wrapping the entire frame in holiday stripes).
Even as some of the bar parties just start getting into gear, we are in for the night. We traveled north to south, east to west, across West Seattle, including a stop at Skeleton Theatre (we’ll put up video in the morning — it’s playing again tomorrow night, so you have another chance to go see for yourself). We saw luminaria and lights, costumes from A(ngels) to Z(ombies), but we’re also glad to be back at WSB HQ sharing your Halloween scenes — including this last round of photos before the Witching Hour arrives. First, from the inbox: Tigger turned up to greet trick-or-treaters at Westwood Village tonight:
More major cuteness from the inbox: Baby Nate goes crustacean for his first Halloween:
We had seen this cool decoration outside a house not far from Skeleton Theatre but didn’t get a picture – Todd did:
Todd also was one of 2 people who sent us a photo of “Feed-O” the scary cat – this “Feed-O” photo is by MIST, who says the cat “was spitting out gummy rats”!
Now a final round of jack-o-lanterns. From Danny and Diane, a pumpkin with a statement:
A seasonal pumpkin array, from “mtnester” of Shorewood:
Huindekmi sent this next one and noted, “We don’t carve our pumpkin till Halloween”:
And the proud wife of Dan sends his creation, saying, “he just LOVES Halloween” …
Speaking of attacks – we have heard one more time from “West Seattle Art Attack,” who e-mailed WSB to say: “I placed a final pumpkin tonight in a deserving yard. It was a very pretty purple and pink one that my wife didn’t want to part with. I’ve discreetly checked on a couple of my previous placements and they haven’t moved. I’m not sure if the owners even know they are there.” Quick! Go check your yard (or tell your friends to check theirs)! You don’t want an unnoticed WSAA pumpkin sitting out there till spring … 11:55 PM ADDENDUM: This blogger tells the sorrowful saga of a nearly trick-or-treater-less night for her first West Seattle Halloween. Boo!
-After driving under the Fauntleroy overpass “Help 7-year-old Dylan fight leukemia!” banner again, we caught the phone number (and realized we originally posted the wrong name – surname on the banner is actually Redlinger). So we called that number last night to try to find out more; it was answered by a very generic voicemail/machine message. We left our contact info; no response yet.
-More on the lightning-speed condo conversion at the newly renamed West Water, south of Morgan Junction. Sarah e-mailed to say she saw a TV commercial for it, adding: “Thought it was interesting that they didn’t show any pictures of the condos themselves, but there sure were plenty of Alki and downtown!”
-One week till Election Day. You may well have voted already (if you vote in person, like us old traditionalists, this may be your last chance, we’ll see you at the polls). There’s been so much great election coverage all over other media sources lately that we haven’t had anything unique to add, but here’s one note we’ve been meaning to mention — if you are still trying to sort out where you stand on Proposition 1 (“Roads & Transit”), Chas Redmond pointed out the recent Sustainable West Seattle forum on Prop 1 is captured in a podcast (mp3 download) on the SWS site. One other election note – saveseattleschools.blogspot.com has an interesting West Seattle-specific observation on the School Board District 6 race. (Though the entire city votes on every School Board seat that’s on the ballot, whoever wins District 6 — Steve Sundquist or Maria Ramirez — will be “our” representative, replacing Irene Stewart, who decided not to run again.)
If you’re at home – go peek at your yard – you might have a present from a mysterious, anonymous local glass artist who tells WSB he/she has been leaving surprises in yards around West Seattle “that look like their owners would appreciate a new bit of unexpected art.” The artist sent photographic proof (the one at right was taken under cover of night):
The artist says you’ll know it’s one of theirs if it’s signed “West Seattle Art Attack.” Let us know if you find one! (P.S. More jack-o-lantern photos coming; still time to get yours in.)
In the tradition of Graham Street Apartments=Strata, etc., yet another California Avenue condo conversion has its fancy new name. The lettering above for West Water has just appeared on all the exterior fancying-up that workers have been doing at the former Watermarke Apartments (6960-6970 California, chronicled here in August and in September) for the past several weeks. West Water’s future website promises these will, of course, be “luxury condominiums.” (Found the complex’s pre-conversion sales price, $13 million, on this site, along with sales data on several other WS buildings we are now researching. EARLY MONDAY ADDENDUM: That brokerage site also has a blog, with what appears to be the behind-the-scenes story of this building’s sale.) Before/after pix (not the same exact angle but close enough) — one month ago, then today:
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